Trap set after bear encounter

State to kill any large bear caught near where woman knocked down

Bryan Fitzgerald Staff write, Times Union

By Bryan Fitzgerald Staff writer

Updated 6:49 am, Friday, April 15, 2011

A young black bear sits in a tree in the rear of 33 John David Lane in Albany, New York May 27, 2004. He climbed the tree to avoid the humans that awaited him on the ground below the tree. ENCON officers were called to tranquilize the bear and remove him from the tree. Here the bear yawns at the humans below. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union Archive)

A young black bear sits in a tree in the rear of 33 John David Lane...

A young black bear sits in a tree in the rear of 33 John David Lane in Albany, New York May 27, 2004. He climbed the tree to avoid the humans that awaited him on the ground below the tree. ENCON officers were called to tranquilize the bear and remove him from the tree. Here ENCON officers shoot a rubber bullet at the bear to force him back up the tree to await the tranquilizer gun. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union Archive)

A young black bear sits in a tree in the rear of 33 John David Lane...

A young black bear sits in a tree in the rear of 33 John David Lane in Albany, New York May 27, 2004. He climbed the tree to avoid the humans that awaited him on the ground below the tree. ENCON officers were called to tranquilize the bear and remove him from the tree. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union Archive) .

A young black bear sits in a tree in the rear of 33 John David Lane...

A black bear opens the lid of a trash dumpster, which wasn't equipped with a bear-proof latch, in search of food in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., in October 1997. (AP Photo/Phillip King,file)

A black bear opens the lid of a trash dumpster, which wasn't...

A male black bear, thought to be 2 years old,starts to back down out of a tree after being shot with a tranquilizer gun in Delmar, N.Y. on Thursday July 17, 2003. After loaded into a metal bear carrier, the bear was taken to Delaware County to be released. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union Archive)

A male black bear, thought to be 2 years old,starts to back down...

A male black bear, thought to be 2 years old, peers out from around a tree to look at law officials in Delmar, N.Y. on Thursday July 17, 2003. The bear was shot with a tranquilizer gun and then was being taken to Delaware County to be released. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union Archive)

A male black bear, thought to be 2 years old, peers out from around...

Black bear in Adirondacks (DEC)

Black bear in Adirondacks (DEC)

Black bear in Adirondacks (DEC)

Black bear in Adirondacks (DEC)

A black bear peers down at the gathering of onlookers from a tree along Sarah Street Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania on Monday, June 2, 2008. The bear was caught and released on State gamelands with a tag on it. (Keith R. Stevenson/Pocono Record)

A black bear peers down at the gathering of onlookers from a tree...

A black bear named Bella, looks into a trap but doesn't take the bait in the backyard of a home on Lake Rd. in Orchard Park, N.Y., Monday, July 12, 1999.The bear has been wandering around in the Orchard Park area for nearly a week and Department of Environmental Conservation officers have been unable to capture it for release in the Allegany State Park. (AP Photo/Mark Mulville)

CAIRO -- One day after a 53-year-old woman was knocked down by a large black bear as it foraged through garbage at her home in the northern Catskills, the state Department of Environmental Conservation set a trap to catch what it hopes will be the ursine intruder.

Although the DEC acknowledged it won't know for sure if any bear caught is the one that toppled the woman, who lives at the foot of Round Top Mountain, spokesman Rick Georgeson said the first large bear trapped will be euthanized.

However, he said, because the woman reported being attacked by a large, fully grown bear, any cubs caught will be set free.

No bears had been trapped as of Thursday afternoon. Georgeson said the trap set will remain outside the home at North Alpine Drive until an adult bear is caught.

"We're going to err on the side of caution," he said.

The trap, called a culvert, is a large cylinder closed on one end. The open end of the trap will close once the bear is lured inside, Georgeson said.

On Wednesday night, the DEC interviewed the woman, who suffered abrasions and hurt her back during the encounter with the animal around 2:15 p.m. in her driveway.

While Greene County Sheriff Greg Seely said the area is home to many bears, Georgeson said that attacks are extremely rare, adding that "99 percent of the problem is people leaving food outside."

Several overturned garbage cans and a punctured bottle of Febreeze air freshener were "evidence of bear activity in the area," Georgeson said.

The last serious bear attack in New York was in August 2002 in the southern Catskills town of Fallsburg in Sullivan County. In that incident, a 155-pound black bear killed a toddler, knocking over its stroller and carrying it into the woods.

In 1999, two black bear encounters were reported at Ulster County homes. In one, two bears entered a home and ransacked the refrigerator. Later that summer, a 50-pound black bear chased a dog out of a family's backyard and then curled up and slept in a doghouse. No one was injured in either incident.

The DEC said black bears will be on the move now that warmer spring weather is in the region, warning residents in mountain areas not to leave food outside.

In a statement on how to prevent black bear encounters, the DEC said: "It is in the best interest of both bears and people if bears get their food solely from wild sources. Once a bear learns to associate certain structures with food, it can become a serious nuisance to people and a threat to itself."